Moreover, the shift to technology-enabled remote working presents an opportunity for companies to accelerate building inclusive and agile cultures-further challenging existing management routines. For example, diverse teams have been shown to be better able to radically innovate and anticipate shifts in consumer needs and consumption patterns. There is ample evidence that diverse and inclusive companies are more likely to make better, bolder decisions-a critical capability in the crisis. In addition, inequality with regard to sharing childcare and homeschooling responsibilities, as well as the quality of home workspace (including broadband access), could put women and minorities at a disadvantage during this time of working remotely.Ĭompanies need to seize this moment-both to protect the gains they have already made and to leverage I&D to position themselves to prosper in the future. As companies send staff home to work, this could reinforce existing exclusive behaviors and unconscious biases and undermine inclusion. Research and experience warn that diverse talent can be at risk during a downturn for several reasons-for example, downsizing can have a disproportionate impact on the roles typically held by diverse talent. If companies deprioritize I&D during the crisis, the impact will be felt not just on the bottom line but in people’s lives.

We believe such companies risk tarnishing their license to operate in the long term and will lose out on opportunities to innovate their business models and strengthen their recovery. On the other hand, some companies appear to be viewing I&D as a “luxury we cannot afford” during the crisis. As the CEO of a European consumer-goods company told us: “I know we have to deal with COVID-19, but inclusion and diversity is a topic too important to put onto the back burner.” Companies whose leaders welcome diverse talents and include multiple perspectives are likely to emerge from the crisis stronger. As this report shows, however, I&D is a powerful enabler of business performance. In this challenging context, the task of fostering inclusion and diversity (I&D) could easily take a back seat-and the painstaking progress made by many firms in recent years could be reversed.

Not only must they protect the health of their employees and customers, they must also navigate far-reaching disruption to their operations, plan for recovery, and prepare to reimagine their business models for the next normal. For business executives the world over, the COVID-19 pandemic is proving to be one of the greatest leadership tests of their careers.

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